What it REALLY takes to Achieve and Sustain Socially Significant Improvements: The Science and Practice of Active Implementation

Objectives: Based on extensive research and experience in the fields of child protection, child abuse and neglect prevention, early childhood development, children’s mental health, and other related fields, a framework has... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives:

Based on extensive research and experience in the fields of child protection, child abuse and neglect prevention, early childhood development, children’s mental health, and other related fields, a framework has been articulated which provides great assistance when diagnosing and addressing the practice, process, organisation, and system barriers that limit the effectiveness of systems intended to protect children and enhance wellbeing.

Methods:

This workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to become familiar with the Active Implementation Frameworks (AIF) and then to consider how the AIF may assist in addressing the challenges of their own systems to discover the ‘leverage points’ that can lead to significant improvement in the safety, wellbeing, and permanence outcomes for children and their families. Participants will depart from this workshop with a set of ‘next right steps’ to guide an active implementation-informed improvement approach.

Results:

Participants will understand the benefits of using the science and practice of implementation to inform their improvement efforts.  They will also become aware of the most common improvement strategies that have been shown not to lead to sustained improvement so that other strategic decisions and investment can be made in order to ensure that children and families are supported using the best available evidence.

Conclusions:

With an opportunity to engage with the most up-to-date information about ‘what works’ to promote meaningful and sustained changes for children and families, participants in this workshop will be able to critically reappraise their agencies' current approach to change and promote the most effective improvement approaches available.